A letter about sectarianism in Syria

A reader in Syria sent me this:  "Well, for instance this past day, many in Hims (some sources are saying 30) were killed, with corpses mutilated and dumped -- victims were mainly Christians and Alawis and those of course retaliated. Another small but significant event that was not in any media whatsoever happened in my hometown Al-Hamidiyah in Tartous at the Syrian-Lebanese border.
To tell you a bit about me, I am an atheist and comes from an Alawi family. My hometown is predominantly Alawi and there is another town called Arab Al-Shati' (Arabs of the Shore) exactly next to Al-Hamidiyah (really, they have become one big town due to growth). Now, what happened, and this is my own testimony from there at the time of the events, is that after Bashar's last speech armed people from Arab Ashati' attacked Al-Hamidiyah and started shooting randomly at balconies and front doors explicitly saying "Your time has come, Alawis إجا أجلكم يا علوية) many people were killed (12 to be exact three of which are regular guards positioned at the local police station), tens of shops were attacked and vandalized. The most disturbing thing is that they set the mosque in Arab Ashati' on fire and claimed on Facebook pages that Alawis were the culprit. The people of Al-Hamidiyah were shocked by the number of weapons used, with some claiming it came from Lebanon (I can not confirm that whatsoever). People from nearby villages (vast majority are Alawis) indeed came to the outskirts of the town when they heard the events but the military mukhabarat were deployed just in time to stop the Alawis from retaliating. After that, and sadfully enough, everyone in Alhamidiyah is armed to the teeth, waiting for the next even and that time, they say, they will be prepared.
The regime was out of the picture completely, and if it was not for an individual with high connection who deliberately exaggerated what was happening when he was contacting Damascus, the military mukhabarat wouldn't have been deployed and the entire Sunni town would have probably been wiped out. I managed to talk to some close friends from Arab Al-Shati' after things cooled down a bit trying to figure out what was the motive behind their attacks, and I received many answers, mainly revolving around Adnan Al'ar'oor.
I was completely sympathetic with protesters when it started in Dar'aa and I believe it was genuine and spontaneous and all the bullshit about armed gangs there is completely fabricated by the regime. But once it spilled out of Dar'aa, ugly sectarianism emerged. I was personally accused of being a shabeeh by acquaintances who know me well to realize I am an atheist and a communist and was threatened twice that once the regime falls, I will be "punished".
I am anti-Assad, but I can't side with sectarians.. I am just watching by and hoping for the best, and almost every Alawi, Christian, Druze and Ismaili I know feel exactly the same way."